hi,
i think we ought to remember the date of the image in order to reason the description/ensemble. the Musée de Tzarskoe-Selo ou Collection d’Armes was started in 1835, which means its one of the first 'books' on oriental arms. meyricks study, which opened the doors of academia and studied thought on arms was written in 1854. egertons tremendous study, which was the basis of all other studies on indian arms was written in 1880. so, in the 1830's, there was very little written records to fall back on, except provenance and eye witness accounts.
the tzarskoe selo catalogue was a first of the time, and it was a collection being compiled from previous holdings, as well as new aquisitions.
all this means that the descriptions could be wrong, or at least assumed wrongly at the time. the artist was of a high standard, and illustrated individual pieces well, but his 'artistic licence' was a little astray when grouping arms onto a costumed figure.
mark mentioned the artist studio, which was often the case in 'orientalist' images. however, this was a catalogue and so each piece actually existed in the collection, but obviously not all from the same source, as hinted in the image.
the sword looks very dha-like and am happy to agree with the dha experts, who we can all assume will recognise one of their own instantly.
if there were no records with the dha in question, there is no reason why an artist with no knowledge of arms would not throw it on an armed indian figure for dramatic effect. i've attached another image which shows the same careless abandon (look at the helmet!)
the arms in jens' image are all indian, and kabul was indeed a staging point and a place of importance in moghul history. but, thats about as accurate as it gets.
i believe the chainmail shirt is 'modern' at the time of the illustration, or at least not that old. this pattern and style was a 19thC concoction, although the use of patterned brass/copper butted links goes back to the late 18thC. the pattern indicates a lahore origin. the 1851 exhibition at crystal palace displayed shirts of this kind. although the displays showed both collections and artistic crafts made for sale, the catalogue of the time and the few surviving images (see attached) show the pieces by their location, and the industrial arts of both lahore and sailkot were well displayed. egerton shows this pattern on helmets bought at the exhibition, and the V&A hold other pieces bought at the time.
similar dispays were held in paris a decade later and both these exhibitions were a good benchmark for the arts of the time. also, decosson illustrates a zirah of the same style in 1881 (see attached image) which he describes as modern sikh work. his was a good study, with som einnacuracies but i'm sure he wouldnt state 'modern' unless he had good reason to do so.
the artist also shows both a zirah and a khud worn together. i can assume this was done as the mail decorations were similar (or the same) and he thought they went together.
also, does anyone have any thoughts on the lance. the piece does not look eastern (oriental) to me at all. the grip/lance shoe shows a european style. i know that this style didnt exist in india, but am guessing it doesnt follow with rest of the east. anyone?
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